Assembly Members vote through Welsh Government’s annual budget

Assembly Members are expected to vote through the Welsh Government’s £15bn annual budget this evening - as the Welsh Government announces plans to direct another half a billion pounds towards capital projects.

Assembly Members voted through the Welsh Government’s £15bn annual budget – as the Welsh Government announced half a billion pounds for capital projects.

The Welsh Government was able to pass its spending plans after striking a deal with Plaid Cymru which ensured the party would not vote against the motion.

Seven Plaid AMs abstained from the vote, meaning the motion was passed 25-18, after the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats voted against.

The deal – on the back of a commitment to £20m for apprenticeships for each of the next two years and a £10m deal for a science park collaboration in North Wales – came after weeks of negotiations between the Welsh Government with both Plaid and the Lib Dems.

With exactly half of the 60 seats, short of an overall majority, the Welsh Government needed the support of an opposition party.

The influential Finance Committee in the National Assembly had expressed reservations on whether the Welsh Government could deliver its spending plans, with fears that spending in other departments could be hit if Health Boards required a bailout amid stubborn deficits.

The vote coincided with an announcement from Finance Minister Jane Hutt in the chamber that £200m would be put into its 21st Century Schools programme through an extension of local government borrowing.

She also said £300m would be earmarked to finance dualling the final two sections of the Heads of the Valleys A465 road through a Scottish-style not-for-profit mechanism acting as an alternative to PFI schemes.

The “non-dividend investment vehicle” will be based on the non-profit distributing investment model developed in Scotland which guarantees any profit generated to be reinvested in infrastructure, with private companies’ profit levels capped.

Ms Hutt said this mean that the dual carriageway would be completed before 2020.

“The initiatives I have announced today show that despite the cuts being imposed on us by the UK Government we remain determined to invest in infrastructure across Wales,” she said.

“Adding the initiatives I have announced today to the £220m of additional capital investment set out in the final Budget, means we are committing almost three quarters of a billion pounds to the Welsh economy and public services.

“These two initiatives will be at the forefront of a larger non-dividend investment programme in support of the Wales Infrastructure Investment Plan that we are developing.”

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood said the combination of today’s Autumn Statement by George Osborne and the budget vote was an opportunity to reverse the “downwards cycle” of austerity to focus on growth.

Speaking during a visit to the ACT Skills Academy in Cardiff, she said: “The Welsh Government has limited job-creating levers at its disposal, so maximising the use of all measures available to aim to build strength and resilience into the Welsh economy is a must.

“By reaching an agreement with the government to provide £40m over two years to fund apprenticeships and to pump-prime a £10m science park led by Bangor University, Plaid Cymru has achieved a good deal which will help to build our economy in a way that will benefit many young people in particular.”

Anticipating that the UK Government may implement the Silk Commission’s recommendations for financial reform of the National Assembly, Ms Wood said she wanted to “bring taxation levers” to Wales to support the economy.

She added: “Wales can be an economic success with the right backing and support. Our economy needs a transformational plan and that is what I want to deliver.”

Shadow Minister for Finance for the Conservatives, Paul Davies, said ahead of the vote that the budget did not address the needs of the Welsh economy or public services.

He said: “At a time when Health Boards are already facing combined deficits of as much as £131m, Labour and Plaid Cymru’s NHS cuts will undoubtedly put even greater pressure on frontline resources.

“Labour and Plaid Cymru’s budget is a missed opportunity to create conditions for economic growth, empower schools and invest in our NHS.”

Peter Black, the Liberal Democrat spokesman on finance, said that the Liberal Democrats didn’t support the budget because it didn’t sufficiently support children from deprived backgrounds. Last year, the Liberal Democrats voted with the government on the Budget after a commitment to a Pupil Premium.

Speaking ahead of the vote, he said: “Despite not agreeing to support the budget today, the Welsh Liberal Democrats are still making a huge difference to the lives of the people of Wales.”

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